Lake Echo Report March 2011

Good things come to whose who wait!
A new year promise to an old friend, Mike, from Ulverstone, to take him fishing at Lake Echo finally came to fruition.
If you want to catch large numbers trolling it is imperative to have the weather conditions ‘spot on’. Wind less than 10 knots, heavy cloud, some drizzle and no thunder or lightening. After pestering the weather bureau for days Sunday’s weather forecast turned out to be ideal!

In order to begin to fish at day light we departed at 3.15am. We met some fog on the climb up the tiers but this soon cleared after we passed Little Pine. The gravel road was in reasonable condition although there was the few usual ‘spring breakers’ to dodge. The trip took 2 ¾ hours and after launching at the forestry ramp headed for Brocks Bay. Luckily I had put the lures I wanted on the day before as it was far too cold for my aging fingers to tie lures at this stage!
Crossing the body of the lake I dropped two (what I thought were big fish) on a lead line . Mike’s trolling experience which is normally restricted to watching TV fishing shows or listening to other fishermen’s experiences was down 4 colours on his lead line.
Mike had boated four brownies before 7.15am –me one! With the conditions warming we headed north towards the canal were we changed all lures but continued to boat fish. After midday the cloud started to dissipate and with only a slight ripple we crossed Broken and Large Bays catching very few trout but the usual supply of perch.
By the time we reached Teal Bay the weather was far too bright and sunny. I had told Mike of the wonderful rainbows that I had caught on past trips in this bay. Alas, today it was not to be –nothing. Needing to give the big motor a good ‘work out’ we headed for the ramp.
The day’s total –16 brown up to 2lbs, all in excellent condition and 12 perch. 14 were caught on lead lines fished at 4 colours and 2 on nylon. All were caught on hard plastic lures mostly manufactured by ‘Sting’. For the record Mike caught 11, lost 1 and I caught 5 and lost3.
We had a counter meal on the way home, disconnecting the boat at 9.45pm -a very long but most enjoyable day.
President Rod Summers.